Shifting trough the press-release-release of View4 in the end you find out that View4 basically has 4 new features:

PCoIP

VMware has invested more than a year to get their Software version of PCoIP ready. PCoIP is VMware's protocol of choice for Virtual Desktops and VMware's answer to RDP, Quest EOP and Citrix ICA/HDX. Since end user performance is very hard too measure, it is hard to say just how PCoIP performs. VMware says that it delivers excellent performance. I guess time will tell.

One important thing to note is that the existing "multimedia technologies" (the stuff they OEMed from Wyse and ThinPrint) like the MMR, USB redirection and the Universal Printing all remain intact.

VMware even says that have a whitepaper coming out that PCoIP would improve scalability when compared to RDP. I would find this hard to believe and I think the whitepaper might have different "starting positions" but we can find out when they release the whitepaper (after the GA launch as far as I know).

PCoIP will support up to 4 monitors with different screen layouts and resolution of up to 1900x1200.

Also (again supposedly) PCoIP would be able to operate smoothly on networks of up to 250 ms of latency. 

PCoIP technology uses low-latency image compression algorithms to optimize the user experience for wide area network (WAN) applications. The WAN enhancements dramatically improve the user experience to provide support for multi-media and 3D graphics, audio, and I/O responsiveness over long-distance/high-latency and low-bandwidth networks.

Key PCoIP WAN Capabilities:

·         Reduced Minimum Bandwidth: To support the lower bandwidth typically available over a WAN, the minimum peak bandwidth required for a PCoIP connection is 1 Mbps. Because PCoIP only transmits changes to the desktop image, the actual bandwidth used may be much lower if the screen is not changing signifcantly or rapidly.

·         Local Keyboard and Mouse: To provide instant response over high-latency networks, the mouse pointer can be displayed locally on the desktop (within VMware View Agent) in addition to being sent to the host. Local keyboard capability is also provided to prevent lost keystrokes due to network delay.

·         Packet Reordering: To accommodate the out-of-order packets often produced by network links on a WAN, the PCoIP portal in VMware View Agent can create multiple packet chains as out-of-order packets received and connect chains to restore the correct sequence. Without this, out-of-order packets can result in data retransmission and delays.

·         Bandwidth-Sensitive Audio Compression: PCoIP transmits compressed or uncompressed audio-switching dynamically based on the available bandwidth to provide the best possible user experience

One of the key aspects about PCoIP and it's associated performance is that is uses different codecs for different kinds of session data. So a different codec for text and a different codec for images. With images they also use a form of progressive display.

Cleartype is also supported.

vSphere Support

Yes, it's an actual feature. And it matter. VMware was later than other leading VDI vendors (Citrix, Quest etc.) to support their own platform. View4 adds vSphere support.

Simplified SSO

Single Sign On when using the View Client to connect to a View Virtual Desktop has been improved.

Restricted Entitlements

Administrators now have more control to allow or deny users access to virtual desktop pools based on "tags".

So, as you can see, the BIG new feature is definately PCoIP. A lot will be written back and forth about it I can tell but no matter how it turns out, it is a good thing that PCoIP is finally here.

As for all new and improved features, refer to these tables:

More information is on the View4 website: http://www.vmware.com/products/view/